Naples Travel Forum

We will be arriving aboard RCCL cruise ship. If anyone can help with these questions it would be great.
1. Is the ship docked in an area so that access to the city is easy? If not, how do we get to the city?
2. If I want to go to Pompeii, should I take the ship's tour or is there a better way to do it. I hate getting stuck on a tour that takes all day. I understand there is a train that goes to Pompeii. Is it near the cruise terminal? How much to get to the train station?
3. What other attractions are there in Naples? Any must see places, must eat pizza places, must see cafes?

I am also going to Naples on a cruise and I have decided to go to Pompeii on my own. There is a train that goes to Pompeii it is called the circumvesuviano line and by what I've read there are two stops in Pompeii. Make sure to get off at Pompeii Scavi as this is the stop that is closest to the entrance.

Suggest you go to cruisecritic.com

The Circumvesuviana train runs from Naples Garibaldi station. Getting to Pompeii takes around 30 minutes; the entrance is directly opposite Pompeii Scavi station. www.vesuviana.it for timetables (trains are frequent and inexpensive). Don't forget to validate (date-stamp) your ticket by putting it into one of the yellow machines before you start each journey.

You could also easily visit Herculaneum. Just get off the train at Ercolano on the way back to Naples (you'll need to get another ticket to get from ercolano to Naples) and walk down the hill for about 5 minutes. It's worth seeing if you can find time: a very different experience to the magnificent Pompeii.

First, you'll want to go from the docks to Napoli Garibaldi station - it's a kilometer or 2 from memory (and depending on which dock you come in at). If someone will point you to Corso Umberto I, you can follow it all the way to the train stations. I say "stations" because the Circumvesuviana is a private railroad and its station is downstairs from the national railway station.

Or you can take a taxi the short distance, or even a bus, I imagine, although I don't know which one that would be...by the time you figure it out, you would already have walked it...;-)

Then follow J's directions in taking the Circumvesuviana to Herculaneum and/or Pompeii.

Note that there is a national railway station in Pompeii, but it is on the other side of town (all of a 15 minute walk) from the excavations, so, as someone noted, the Circumvesuviana is more convenient since it lets you off near the front door, so to speak.

"I hate getting stuck on a tour that takes all day." - do note that you will probably spend all day doing this anyway...it's going to take you an hour or more (likely more) to get to the station, then wait for the next train, then ride it to Pompeii. And you'll want to spend at least 4 hours in Pompeii itself - it's a Roman city, whose ruins are far more extensive than the occasional ruins you see here or there in Italian cities. So your excursion just to Pompeii is likely to be upwards of 7 hours (1.5 hours each way and 4 hours on-site). But that, of course, would be up to you as opposed to the tour operator.

In Naples itself, if you like Pompeii, you'll want to go to the National Museum where much of the good stuff from Pompeii ended up...

Bill

Have a look at my Naples, etc. pages. Quite frankly, having just come back from visiting both Pompeii and Herculaneum, if I only had time to visit one, then it would be Herculaneum, and also Villa Oplontis. Don't know how long you have in Naples or what your interests are but for my money (or yours in this case) I wouldn't miss the Capello Sansevero but only if you are interested in that sort of thing. The Duomo was a real surprise and I'd recommend that. You could also investigate going up or down on one of the funiculars. There is some absolutely stunning art in Naples but it has to be tracked down and would take more time than I am sure your cruise stopover allows.

Whoops, forgot to mention that if you use the Circumvesuiviana you can use the same ticket on Naples public transport. e.g. coming back from Pompeii, you can hop onto a bus to return to the ship and not pay any extra. The tickets are valid for a certain length of time. Naples is absolutely fascinating but is not for the faint-hearted - a trip on foot through the Centro Storico is wonderful and will give you a real feel of life. Despite adverse comments to be found when reading about Naples, we didn't feel at all unsafe and had a lot of friendly interchange with the locals.

My best advice to you is watch your valuables. If you are going to walk anywhere through Naples make sure you have your wallet etc close to your skin!!! Be especially careful when you catch the train to Pompeii- if anyone crowds around you in the train before it goes force your way out where there is space.Keep an eye out for people following you. The pickpockets in Naples were the most canny we found and yes, this is all written from first hand experience.

On the other hand make sure you go to the Naples museum which has all the treasures from Pompeii( check out the secret room) and do have a pizza from one of their street stalls - better than those in Rome!!